SPA faculty and staff maintain a portfolio of multi-year projects, as well as smaller, short-term engagements, where our expertise can be of significant benefit. Recognizing the value of collaboration, we often partner with other organizations to provide the most comprehensive services to the field.

Contact Us (justice@american.edu)

Georgia Statewide Racial Disparities Program Implementation Evaluation
American University’s Center for Justice Initiatives is partnering with Georgia’s Council of Accountability Court Judges (CACJ) to enhance the provision of services offered by treatment courts in the state, specifically to address racial and ethnic disparities in access and outcomes at the local and state levels. The goals of this project include: (1) develop and deploy a participant screening tool for all arrestees within local jails, (2) establish a statewide language access protocol for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) and Limited English Proficiency (LEP), (3) provide access to emergency and transitional housing for participants in need to address environmental and other risk factors limiting program participation; and (4) enhance data collection efforts and provide racial and ethnic diversity training to participating courts. AU will be providing research and evaluation support to the project both at the local and state level, to determine if the programs were implemented with fidelity, and if their implementation reduced racial disparities. Through their work with local courts, AU will ensure robust and reliable data collection procedures are followed. AU will also be supporting local courts with collecting, quality checking, and reporting back metrics of their programs. AU’s partnership with CACJ will include the development of metrics and data priorities, which will then be used to provide detailed reports to the state through both implementation and impact data analyses, thus ensuring effective administration of the grant.

Racial Equity Communities of Practice
American University (AU) is partnering with All Rise (formerly the National Association of Drug Court Professionals), in the creation and delivery of two Communities of Practice training programs. One program will serve six to eight Adult Treatment Court teams, and one six to eight Veterans Treatment Court teams. The Communities of Practices Cohorts will be focused on identifying, addressing, and ultimately reducing or eliminating racial disparities in access to, treatment in, and graduation from, treatment court programs.

These Communities of Practice cohorts will last approximately 18 months. The first part of the cohort will be an intensive 4-month training period where courts will learn from experts in the field, and each other, how to apply evidence-based practices to reduce disparities in their context. Teams will then receive coaching on developing an action plan to address specific policies or practices related to racial and ethnic disparities (RED) in their court and create at least three SMART goals to achieve over the subsequent year. Once the courts have finalized their plans with the coaches, they will present their plan to their cohort, receiving expert and peer feedback on their plan components and implementation strategies. The teams will then receive expert coaching and peer feedback during the implementation of their action plan. The cohort will conclude with each court their success and areas for continuous improvement

Documenting and Addressing Disparities in New York State Adult Drug Treatment Courts
New York State Unified Court System (UCS) Office of Justice Initiatives – Division of Policy & Planning (DPP), partnered with American University (AU) and the Center for Justice Innovation (CJI) to assess equity and inclusion in New York Unified Court System (NYS UCS) treatment courts. American University will administer the Racial and Ethnic Disparities in treatment Courts assessment (RED Tool) to all 96 adult treatment courts under the jurisdiction of the NYS USC. AU will provide access to all court teams to the RED tool, provide technical assistance and support in completing the assessment, and provide a statewide aggregate report back to the NYS USC detailing the areas of success and areas for intervention by the state to address disparities. Approximately 30 NYS courts completed the RED assessment in 2020 & 2021, and their progress towards addressing disparities will form a crucial part of the statewide report.

Color in the Court: Racial and Ethnic Disparities Initiative (REDI) Program Assessment, Training and Technical Assistance
Housed in the School of Public Affairs (SPA) at American University (AU), the Racial and Ethnic Disparities Initiative (REDI) is a multi-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. The project’s mission is to use research, policy development, and training and technical assistance (TTA) to work with justice system stakeholders to rectify racial and ethnic disparities in treatment courts. Below is a list of the project’s overarching goals based around creating content (e.g., fact sheets, webinars, and issues briefs), delivering mid-level TTA to treatment court teams, developing an online module curriculum, and evaluating project components. REDI’s goals include: (1) raising awareness about RED in treatment courts and assisting courts identify RED in their systems and processes, (2) rectifying RED within treatment courts and assisting with implementation of RED Program Assessment Tool recommendations, and (3) conducting a program evaluation of REDI.

Learn more about REDI.

Assessing Racial and Ethnic Disparities within Drug Treatment Courts in Ohio
As treatment court professionals adhere to best practice standard Equity and Inclusion, it is vital that programs are examined for disparities. To support this effort, the Racial and Ethnic Disparities Program Assessment Tool (RED tool) was created to identify and rectify racial and ethnic disparities that may exist in programming. The goals of this project are to: 1) provide training and technical assistance on the RED tool to local treatment court professionals, 2) analyze and report data from RED tool submissions, and 3), create and deliver racial and ethnic diversity training based on regional and statewide needs identified from our analyses.  

The RED Tool team at American University is providing training and technical assistance to local treatment court administrators in the State of Ohio on assessing racial and ethnic disparities within treatment courts. As part of this initiative, we assist treatment court administrators in completing the online RED tool which assists treatment courts professionals in identifying and rectifying racial and ethnic disparities that may exist in programming. The RED tool team will also create and deliver racial and ethnic diversity training based on regional and statewide needs identified in the statewide aggregated report.

For more information, please contact the RED tool team at redtool@american.edu.